The present invention relates to a telescopic and foldable crutch structure.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional crutch structure 1 is mainly composed of an armpit seat 11, two lateral tubes 12, a handle 13, a middle supporting tube 14, a cap member 15 fitted on a bottom end of the middle supporting tube 14, a telescopic tube 16 and a pad member 17.
The armpit seat 11 is disposed at top ends of the lateral tubes 12, including a sponge pad 111 for achieving a comfortable feeling. The lateral tubes 12 are symmetrically disposed and formed with multiple equally spaced through holes 121 for adjustably mounting the handle 13 therein by a butterfly nut 131, whereby the height of the handle 13 can be changed to meet the requirements of different users. The handle 13 is wrapped by a sponge body 132 for achieving a comfortable feeling.
The middle supporting tube 14 is disposed between lower sides of the lateral tubes 12 and formed with multiple equally spaced adjusting holes 141.
The telescopic tube 16 is telescopically inserted in the middle supporting tube 14. A top end of the telescopic tube 16 is formed with a through hole in which an elastic latching means 161 is disposed to engage with the adjusting holes 141 so as to adjust the extending length of the telescopic tube 16. The pad member 17 is fitted on a bottom end of the telescopic tube 16 to buffer the contacting force between the crutch 1 and the ground.
According to the above arrangements, the length of the lateral tubes 12 is fixed, while the height of the handle 13 and the length of the telescopic tube 16 as well as the length of the crutch 1 are adjustable to suit different users.
Several shortcomings are found to exist in the above conventional crutch structure as follows:
1. The length of the lateral tubes is fixed while the heights of different users vary about from 137 cm to 198 cm. Therefore, generally it is necessary to manufacture three specifications (L, M, S) of lateral tubes to meet the requirements of different users. Accordingly, it is necessary to prepare three different specifications of stocks for manufacturing the crutches. This complicates the stock preparation and the manufacturing operation of the crutches.
2. The telescopic tube is undetachably adjustably received in the middle supporting tube and the length adjustment of the telescopic tube is limited. On an situation that the crutch is not used such as the user sits in a car or a bus, it is inconvenient for the user to carry the crutch. Moreover, the length of the crutch necessitates considerably large amount of packing material and occupies great room when stored and transferred. All these increase the cost for the crutch.
3. The handle is adjustably mounted in the through holes of the lateral tubes by a butterfly nut. The butterfly nut protrudes outside the lateral tubes and tends to hook other articles or scrape the user's skin or even make the user fall down.